DEALER'S RECORD DEAL

PICTURED ABOVE: Kingfisher Country Estate’s Michael Loughran, left, with Keys Brothers’ Jonny Moore

The Kingfisher Country Estate in Northern Ireland has signed a five-year deal for a 25-machine Toro fleet in what is Keys Brothers’ biggest agreement since becoming a Toro dealer.

Head greenkeeper Michael Loughran said, “We’ve had lease deals with Toro before but usually for six or seven key pieces of machinery; this is the first time we’ve gone all-in on a full fleet."

Michael explained, “The Estate has recently been given the go ahead on a significant upgrade to the resort and it was important the course kept up with site improvements. There will be major developments on bunkers, a lot of tree work, and consistently maintaining the quality of the course is a big job as it’s fully playable all year round.”

Commenting on the introduction of Keys Brothers as the country’s Toro dealer, Michael continued, "This was our first time working with Keys Brothers since the change in dealership and the support has been outstanding. It was evident early in the process that nothing would beat it especially as I fired over questions and issues and got solutions every time. This indication of the level of service and support we’d get was reassuring and sealed the deal especially as we were going with a full maintenance package too.”

The deal includes pedestrian and riding mowers for all areas, five Workman utility vehicles, the ProPass topdresser, two ProForce blowers, the new TransPro for transporting the club’s existing ProCore 648 aerator, plus the installation of Toro’s myTurf Pro to optimise operation of the fleet. 

Michael went on to say, “On the advice of Keys Brothers, we switched out the Reelmaster 5610-D for the Reelmaster 3575-D for the fairways. It was a simple tweak but suits the site much better. The topography of the site doesn’t have great elevation and we didn’t need all that power; in fact, what we needed is a lighter footprint and a mower that uses less fuel. The 3575 delivers us both of those things.”

Andy Keys, company director at Keys Brothers, added, “While we believe this to be one of the biggest golf deals in Northern Ireland in 2024, the issues and requirements for Michael and the team were like many: they knew there were machinery tweaks they could make to address specific issues and be more efficient. This is applicable whether you’re buying one machine or a fleet. 

“To bring the customer on board with maintenance too is testament to the team we’ve built which has doubled in size since last year such is the level of business we’re doing.”